Parents Of School Shooter Charged In Michigan
The mother and father of a Michigan teen who shot and killed four classmates were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on Tuesday after a jury convicted them of manslaughter in a rare case of parents being held responsible in a school shooting.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, Ethan Crumbley's parents, were sentenced immediately after several family members of the victims gave emotional impact statements in an Oakland County courtroom.
"Not only did your son kill my daughter, but you both did as well," Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, 17, told the court as she wept. James Crumbley sat impassively while his wife Jennifer hung her head.
"My husband and I used to say we have the perfect kid. I truly believed that," she said. "I didn't have a reason to do anything different. This is not something I foresaw."
"If there's anything the general public can take away from this, it's that this could happen to you, too.
"I will be in my own internal prison for the rest of my life," she said, naming her son's victims several times.
Addressing the court, her 47-year-old husband said, "I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. My heart pours out to every single one of you."
Prosecutors in the trials of both Jennifer and James Crumbley said the parents were criminally negligent for providing a gun for their child as a Christmas present, and for ignoring signs his mental health had deteriorated and that he was potentially violent.
The parents' defence teams argued, among other points, that it was impossible for the mother and the father to envision their son would carry out a mass shooting.
The United States, a country with persistent gun violence, has experienced a series of school shootings over the years, often carried out by current or former students
The Associated Press ·
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